Memories of a night under enemy fire THIS week’s 70th anniversary of 1940 blitz reminded me of an incident in 1939 when my mother and father took me to Splott cinema. I was six years old and had only been in school three weeks.

While in there an air raid started. The manager said only the people who lived near were to leave the cinema. Then some time later, he said everyone could go as quick as they could.

We had to go over Splott Road bridge, which the trains ran under and the Germans were aiming to bomb.

We ran as fast as we could into Marion Street, then along Hinton Street, where that night houses were bombed and people killed. As we ran along, Moorland Road School was being bombed.

The incendiary bombs were coming down fast and the firemen were struggling to put the fires out.

We ran along Milford Street, then Swansea Street. We got as far as Martins shop and we were sheltering in the doorway, my father trying to protect my mum and myself. The lady who lived there opened the door and offered to let us in to shelter.

The school, they thought, was a factory and the railway was at the top of Pontypridd Street. The other end was Portmanmoor Road where the Dowlais works and steelworks were situated. The end of Portmanmoor Road was the Docks and Spillers flour works – which they thought was a factory.

That night, unknown to my parents, my sister and her boyfriend were in the cinema. My brother pretended he was older so that he could help the firefighters with the fire at the school. My older brother used to drive the trains carrying the ammunition and troop trains. It was his day off and he was in the cinema with his wife.

That is a night I will never forget. Seeing the bombs dropping and shrapnel coming down was terrifying.

SA McAuliffe (née James), Cardiff

Rising to the big challenge JOHN Mullings (Viewpoints, September 7) challenges me to offer a credible explanation for how life started. Quite a challenge!

My explanation is simple. God created the universe and life through the laws of nature.

If just one of six constants relating to nature’s laws were slightly different there would be no stars, planets or life. Is this amazing fact based on chance or design?

My explanation is essentially the same as Professor Hawking’s claim that gravity created the universe out of nothing! So who created gravity?

I call the unknown, and in my opinion unknowable, first cause God. Hawking’s calls it “M” theory, but there is absolutely no scientific evidence to support the “M” theory, which means it comes down to faith on both sides.

Neither “M” theory nor God can be proved or disproved. And even if “M” theory were ever proved then what caused it and so on?

Sir Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, said that research proved that sound waves had shaped the universe.

Science codifies the material laws of nature, while religion codifies moral commandments. One deals with the material world, the other the spiritual aspects of life such as war and peace, love and hate, good and evil. These are outside the scope of science. So why pit one against the other?

The common thread of most religions is belief in a creative force called God, moral commandments, good works and prayer. Most scientists, until quite recently, also believed in these. I still do.

For years science argued that the universe had not been created and would not end (Steady State theory), and was reluctant at first to accept the Big Bang theory, which proved that it had been created.

Bryan Prescott Caerphilly

What happened to Waldini? FOR many years, I have been researching the lost theatres of Llandudno, and I would now like to appeal to any of your readers for information about the entertainer, Waldini, or Charles Bishop, his real name.

For years he ran the Happy Valley company.

Many holidaymakers to Llandudno have given me recollections of his shows. As he came from Cardiff and later retired back there again, I hope that some of your readers might tell me more about him. Are any of his family still alive?

I also would like to get in touch with one of his singers, Maureen Evans, who was in his company before she had her hit records. I learned recently that she had her own drama college in Cardiff.

If she reads this, or any one who can put me in touch with her, I would love to write to her.

If any of your readers has memories of the Happy Valley or any of the other theatres/cinemas there (The Arcadia, Pier Pavilion, the Grand, the Prince’s, Savoy, or the Winter Gardens/Odeon/Astra), please can they get in touch?

Check before paying your tax HMRC are at it again! Upgrades in computer systems have found major errors in tax payments between 2008 and April 2010. Around 4.3 million of us are owed a tax rebate after an overpayment, while 1.4 million are facing demands for underpayment of taxes.

The first batch of letters informing people about the errors have arrived on our doormats this week, but will continue up to the end of the year. News of a rebate will be a welcome surprise, but those that receive a letter demanding repayment will need to do a number of things to deal with the situation.

First things first – try not to panic. Read all the background information about the repayment and double check the calculation in the letter.

If you think it’s wrong, seek advice immediately from a professionally qualified accountant or from your local citizens advice bureau.

If you think the assessment is correct and you have underpaid, speak to HMRC which has a “Time to pay” strategy in place, so you will be able to negotiate a reasonable repayment programme that suits your time frame. Be sure to keep a record of who you spoke to and when for future reference.

It is best practise to check your tax code and question it with your employer or HMRC if you are unsure, but mistakes on this scale are unacceptable and HMRC needs to create a more reliable and simple system.

Responsibility should not lie with the individual to ensure their tax payments are correct, but for now self-checking or self-assessment may be the only way to prevent such a nightmare scenario happening in future.

Chas Roy-Chowdhury Head of Taxation, ACCA (The Association of Chartered Certified Accountants), London

Roads not for free parking ONE can only feel sorry for someone being so silly as to choose to go to prison rather than pay a parking ticket, which was quite obviously justified (“Parking protester tells of time in prison after non-payment of fine”, Echo, September 7).

The residents’ parking permit scheme is not unfair.

But how anyone can expect spaces to be guaranteed by the council is hard to understand.

If the Government had any common sense, parking for more than an hour or so on all public roads would not be allowed.

Roads should be for traffic use not to provide free or almost free parking to people who can pay for expensive vehicles, but not make any provision for parking off road.